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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Friday, March 3, 2017

Taste The Blood Of Dracula (1970)

Starring Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis
Directed by Peter Sasdy(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)After boring of pleasures of the flesh, a group of men agree to participate in a black mass for new thrills, but when they bring about the reincarnation of Dracula, their days become numbered.

Christopher Lee returns for his fourth Dracula film with Hammer, and though it features beautiful photography by Arthur Grant, a fine score by James Bernard, and a distinguished cast, the script is sorely lacking. Lee plays a smaller role in the film than previously and has little dialogue, recruiting some young maidens to do most of his dirty work in this picture, and while he still has an imposing presence and gives a frightening bestial performance, he doesn't have many meaningful scenes. The climactic showdown between Lee and Anthony Corlan also disappoints. I liked the performances by Linda Hayden, and especially Isla Blair, who is very beguiling when turned by Dracula to a vampire, and fans of Hammer should find elements to enjoy, but the studio's done far better.